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{
    "id": 1527109,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527109/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " No, three minutes will be good. I know you are a good man and you will do that. There are certain important things. We have seen many county government health workers protesting because they want their arrears to be paid. However, there is no framework for paying these arrears, but this County Governments Additional Allocations Fund Bill does that. There have been protests outside Parliament, with workers demanding payment of arrears. However, the elephant in the room is the lack of a framework for disbursing arrears to these workers. I assure health workers in the counties that once this Bill is passed, their arrears will be paid. This is the framework required to pay the arrears. I urge them to hold their horses because Parliament will ensure that this Bill is passed. Once it is passed, the county health workers’ salary arrears will be paid. And it is quite a colossal amount of money—Ksh1.759 billion. This money will be paid if we pass this Bill. I request Members of this House to ensure that we facilitate the payment of arrears. As you can see in the Schedule, the amount is shared among 10 counties where fines were collected. I have already talked about that. There are also funds from development partners funded projects, totaling about Ksh33 billion. However, these funds cannot be spent because we do not have a framework. The funds that come from IDA, Emergency Locust Response, Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project 1 (KISIP 1) and money for Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLOCA), are all affected. FLOCA is a very popular project in my county, but they cannot use the money because there is no framework. If we pass this Bill, the Kenya Urban Support Project, Urban Development grants and all the other funds from All Nations International Development Agency (ANIDA) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD), will be given to the counties. This will address all the noise about unpaid workers and stalled projects. Lastly, as we disburse these funds through the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill, I urge governors to ensure proper utilisation of this money. The money we are disbursing from this House must benefit the people, helps in development, and furthers the spirit of devolution pushed by the leader of ODM, Hon. Raila Odinga, a cause for which my friend Hon. Oundo here is very passionate."
}